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Students enjoying the Java Jive Series at the Stillwater Canal Co. Pub Tuesday night heard tunes from the likes of Vertical Horizon, Saves the Day, and Jimmy Eat World.
No, it wasn’t a secret show the bands never told us about, but rather fourth-year student Mike Mathien. He entertained the crowd with emotional originals and excellent covers during a lengthy two-hour set.
“Hey . you’re in a pub. If you’re of age and you have lots of money, you can get your drink on,” Mathien said as he introduced his first song, Vertical Horizon’s “Grey Sky Morning.”
He then played two originals, the heartbreaking “Cold,” and an ode to our favorite season, with Mathien’s original, “Summer Song.” That was followed by two more covers, Saves the Day’s “Hold” and Jimmy Eat World’s “Hear You Me.”
Mathien was slightly critical about his older material.
“This is a really old song that I wrote, and it’s kinda crappy . but I’m going to play it for you anyway”, Mathien said before playing “Liar, Liar,” a song about a selfish relationship. The song was followed by impressive guitar work on “Crazy.”
of Jimmy Eat World’s “Lucky Denver Mint.” Using looping equipment and the pedals at his feet, he managed to record a backing track by drumming and picking bass notes on his guitar. The result was a full band effect, as Mathien dazzled the crowd with his passionate vocal performance.
The covers continued with Buffalo Tom’s “Scottish Windows” and “Winner” by K’s Choice. Mathien told the audience to write down the names of the bands he had covered. He then continued with his own “Forget Me Now,” a piece with melodic guitar and introspective lyrics.
“This is another really old one so it’s gonna be bad,” Mathien said. It was, however, one of his standout originals of the evening.
Despite a lengthy break, Mathien didn’t let up, hitting the crowd with everything he had in the second set. He opened with another Saves the Day acoustic song, “Three Miles Down.” He followed with the sad and wistful “Brother.” Mathein strummed his way happily through Better Than Ezra’s “At the Stars.”
Mathien’s cover of Howie Day’s “Ghost” was a showstopper. Using the same onstage looping equipment, he was backed by his own guitars, whistling notes and echoing vocals. The performance was captivating, the amount of passion and sound coming from the stage was haunting – and made for one of the best performances at Java Jive this year.
A well done original, the hopeful love song “Fly to the City” was next, featuring great guitar work and lyrics about life’s journey. He sang Dave Matthews’ “#41″ as an outro. Switchfelt’s “Only Hope” was a mellow piece. Mathien had increased confidence in his original, “Better Day,” which he called an old one but a good one, complete with a verse from John Mayer’s “Why Georgia?” He finished off the show with great renditions of Day’s “Sorry” and “Relax and Move On.”
Mathien considers himself happy with the label “emo,” the style of music that he predominantly plays. He said he likes the genre because it allows one to get into the music more than the typical rock and roll you hear on the radio. He lists Buffalo Tom, Jimmy Eat World, Saves the Day and K’s Choice among his influences.
“Green Day was the reason I started to play guitar,” he said. Writing songs was just a progression from that.
“I like being animate. I’m not just singing and playing, I’m performing,” he said. Mathien distributed a free EP sampler at the show and says he plans to record and tour more in the upcoming months.
